The two most common hearing disorders are tinnitus and presbycusis. Tinnitus is a continuous buzzing or ringing in the ears with no obvious cause. For some people it is a roaring, whistling, chirping, clicking, or hissing sound. Presbycusis is the gradual loss of hearing due to old age.
Tinnitus is a symptom, not a disease, and can occur by itself or with other symptoms. The constant ringing in the ears can be intermittent or continuous. For some people it is a soft noise and for others it is loud enough to block out external sounds.
Generally you must clear up the underlying disorder to cure tinnitus. It can be a caused by ear infections, an obstruction like wax build up in the ear canal, head or neck trauma, noise-induced hearing damage, allergies, Meniere’s disease, TMJ (temporomandibular joint syndrome), migraines, or as a side effect of some medications. Drug use, smoking, obesity, alcohol use, and high blood cholesterol are less common causes of tinnitus.
The causes of dizzyness are often the same disorders causing tinnitus. Your inner ear is one of 3 sensory systems (eyes, sensory nerves, and inner ear) that keep your balance under control. Two of the three systems must be working well for you to maintain good balance. You may feel dizziness if your central nervous system can’t process signals from one or more of these sensory systems.
Ear infections are common in children and toddlers. They occur in both the outer ear (also called swimmer’s ear) and in the middle ear. Both types of ear infections can result in tinnitus and dizziness. Outer ear infections cause an inflammation of the ear canal and often clear up on their own. A middle ear infection is more serious and if left untreated can puncture the eardrum causing permanent hearing loss. Frequent ear infections may be a sign of allergies.
Blockages in the ear canal can cause dizziness and tinnitus. Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is one type of blockage. It occurs when normal otoconia (in your ear) breaks loose and falls into the wrong part of the ear canal. This can happen as a normal result of aging or from trauma to the head. Another common blockage is ear wax build up. When fluids build up behind the blockage, tinnitus and dizziness can occur.
Most people who experience noise related hearing-loss are unaware anything is wrong until they develop tinnitus. Temporary threshold shift is a sign of noise induced damage to the hair cells in your inner ear. When you walk way from a concert or construction site and everything sounds like it is under water or you hear a buzzing in your ears, you have experienced temporary threshold shift. It is the first sign of noise-induced hearing damage. Tinnitus can be a result of repeated damage from loud noises.
The symptoms of Meniere’s™ disease include a ringing in the ears, variable hearing loss, dizziness, feeling unbalanced, and nausea/vomiting. This disease can affect one or both ears, but the exact cause is unknown. Some doctors believed it is cause by a metabolic problem like hypoglycemia. A build up of fluids in the semicircular canals of the inner ear produces pressure causing dizziness, buzzing or ringing in the ears, and fluctuating hearing loss.
Dizziness and tinnitus are often experienced by migraine sufferers. The vertigo and ringing in the ears does not always happen at the same time as the headaches, though it is often triggered by the same things that trigger the headaches. These symptoms can last from several minutes to several days.
The side effects of some medications are dizziness and tinnitus. Aspirin and Quinidine have been known to produces these symptoms. Low serotonin activity also causes vertigo and a buzzing in the ears.
A rare disorder that causes tinnitus and dizziness is acoustic neuroma. It is a benign growth that pushes on the vestibular nerve connecting the inner ear to your brain.
Any hearing loss that persists over two weeks should be evaluated by a professional. Sometimes the symptoms of tinnitus, dizziness, and hearing loss can be a sign of a serious health problem that requires treatment.
Written by Healthy New Age, the alternative care blog and website (Chris Bhurrut
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